New Branches…

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting my brother and his family up in Charlotte VT, pretty much old stomping grounds as a child, and I got to see my niece Anna Belle and newborn nephew Timothy, or, shall I say “Little Timmy” as they like to refer to him 😉 . It’s so easy to get caught up in the “Aw he’s so cute!” or “What a smart kid you guys have raised! You sure have your hands full!”.

But, in the end, as I started my rocky ascent from Burlington’s prestigious international airport, what I came away with from that wonderful visit (actually from every visit up there really), is the undeniable gravity of family.

How being amongst the “new branches” in the family tree, make you check yourself constantly. How you can’t help but marvel at all the potential you have crawling on you or sleeping in your arms. That potential to be everything you ever were or weren’t. That clean slate that allows for a life free of the dumb mistakes you ever made. Of wiser, kinder eyes and bigger, more accepting hearts.

There’s not an ounce of jadedness or hubris… just unfettered dreams and imagination.

I’ve spent a good amount of my life trying to hold onto those tiny threads back to when I ran through the woods, using a Whiffle Ball batt for a sword, valiantly stopping all that threatened to take that moment away. But those threads fray with time and get harder to hold on to.

As I sit back and watch another summer quickly disappear, I’m so grateful to have these new, fresh branches to grab and tie those threads back on to. To reinterpret, remix, add to and completely make their own.

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2 thoughts on “New Branches…”

Very sweet, Tad. They’re very adorable kids. There is something exciting about youth, the possibility of becoming/doing anything. I wish I had appreciated that when I was a kid. Youth is wasted on the young, my father always said. Do you and Mel plan on having some too? 🙂

Ahh, but those little branches can so quickly bring you back to when all that mattered was if the butterfly would sit on your finger, or if you found the EXACT right kind of stone for skipping and you actually got it to skip a few times across the water, or getting to watch the fireflies make the yard sparking in the gloaming.

keep enjoying those babies while they are young – you will learn plenty from them